An economics teacher who was recently handed a three-year jail sentence for engaging in sexual activities with a minor, has moved to the Court of Appeal, challenging his conviction.
On November 26, 2020, Mohammed Wazir Khan was found guilty of the offence by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that on March 9, 2019, Khan was involved in sexual activity with a child under the age of 16 and abusing a position of trust.
The facts of the matter stated that Khan braced his penis towards the minor’s vagina and squeezed her butt.
Following his conviction, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine of $1 million.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Khan, through his lawyer Dexter Todd moved to the High Court seeking bail pending the appeal’s hearing. A High Court Judge will hear the matter on Friday.
At the Appeal Court, Todd argues that his client’s conviction cannot be supported given the standard of evidence presented during the trial.
The lawyer argued that the trial Magistrate showed human emotions with the victim’s evidence, which he said creates an unfair trial for his client.
He contends that Magistrate Daly made an error of law when she considered that there was a “strong suspicion” that Khan might have performed the act.
It is against this background that Todd said, “This suspicion could not justify upholding a conviction in all the circumstances of the present case.”
